Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A:
No. While there's no evidence to suggest that whales wouldn't eat if given the
opportunity, the waters off Maui don't contain the same degree of zooplankton and
marine organisms that humpback whales feed on. Adults go for months at a time
without eating, losing up to one-third of their body weight.
Q: How much do humpback whales weigh?
A:
At birth, humpback whales are 10-12 feet long and weigh about a ton. Full-
grown adults weigh about one ton per foot, which means that a 45-foot humpback
will weigh about 90,000 lbs!
Q: Are males or females bigger?
A:
Females are a little bit larger than males, which is known as “reverse sexual
dimorphism,” a fancy way of saying “I need to give birth to a 2,000 lb. animal, so I
need to be bigger than you.”
Q: How long do whales live?
A:
While an exact life span is undetermined, the general consensus is that whales
live about as long as humans do: 50-90 years.
Q: How do you tell the age of a whale?
A:
Believe it or not, it's by the earwax. The wax in the ear canal will have a dif-
ferent color and consistency in warm water than cold water. Counting the “rings”
in the core of the earwax will show how many annual migrations the whales have
undertaken.
Q: How quickly do whales swim?
A:
Although they can “sprint” at up to about 20 mph, on average humpback
whale travels at a steady rate of 3-5 mph.
Q: How long does it take them to get to Alaska?
A:
Whales spend 6-8 weeks migrating between Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands.
Q: I saw humpback whales in Mexico. Are these the same whales?
A:
Maybe. While the majority of North Pacific humpbacks spend the winter in
Hawai'i, other populations winter off the Baja Peninsula. Occasionally the same
whales will be spotted in various breeding grounds in the same season.
Q: How do you identify a whale?
